Various Composers - Riccardo Muti conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra

Information

• Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
• Igor Stravinsky - Suite from the Firebird (1919 Version)
• Maurice Ravel - Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54
• Sergei Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
• Manuel de Falla - Suite No. 2 from El sombrero de tres picos
• Sergei Prokofiev - Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64ter
• Ottorino Respighi - Pini di Roma, P. 141
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
• Emmanuel Chabrier - España
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings, Op. 48
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, Op. 35
• Claude Debussy - La Mer, CD 111, L. 109
• César Franck - Le chasseur maudit, FWV 44
• Hector Berlioz - Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14, H 48
• Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47
• Franz Liszt - Les préludes, S. 97
• Alexander Scriabin - Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 29
• Antonín Dvořák - Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F Minor, Op. 11, B. 39
• Ernest Chausson - Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19
• Johannes Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
• Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan"

Philadelphia Orchestra

Riccardo Muti, conductor

Compilation: 2025

Label: Warner Classics

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Riccardo Muti (b. 1941, Naples) is an acclaimed Italian conductor renowned for his mastery of opera and symphonic music. Trained in piano, composition, and conducting in Naples and Milan, he debuted in 1968 with the Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He held major posts with the Florence Maggio Musicale, Philharmonia Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and served as La Scala’s music director (1986–2005). Since 2010, he has led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, winning Grammy Awards for Verdi’s Requiem. Known for reviving rare operas and championing Verdi, Muti has also conducted Vienna’s New Year’s concerts multiple times. His honors include the 2011 Birgit Nilsson Prize and the 2018 Praemium Imperiale.

From 1980 to 1992, Riccardo Muti served as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, later becoming conductor laureate. Committed to honoring composers’ original intentions, he moved away from the lush “Philadelphia Sound” cultivated by Eugene Ormandy and Leopold Stokowski, favoring a leaner tone. This shift proved controversial—critics debated whether it diminished the orchestra’s distinctive character or revealed greater authenticity in the music. His recordings often reflected this new clarity, even in Romantic works. Since leaving in 1992, Muti has rarely returned to guest conduct, appearing only in 2005 and in 2024, when he led the orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem.